So when I turn on the interior fan I get this sound like theres a card or leaf or sticker or something in the fan! It's quicker as the fan goes faster. Any ideas what this can be? It goes away sometimes but comes back soon. How do I get to the interior fan to check it?? Then how do I prevent it from happening again??

Grimes

11-23-2010, 10:17 PM

Damn....I have the same annoying problem. I can make it go away by turning the fan to full blast for a min or two - but it comes back eventually. I think it really may be a leaf in there....

HAZ-Matt

11-23-2010, 10:20 PM

It is quite possible that there is a leaf in the blower motor... because of the fan design it sounds almost exactly like a card in spokes. Unfortunately the vent area in front of the windshield isn't sealed all that great so leaves can land on your car and make their way into the motor.

The blower motor is in the passenger footwell. You take off the panel in the footwell, then you can take out the motor. It is held in by some screws, I don't recall the size. It is fairly simple. Then empty out whatever junk is in there. I did this early in the year which was probably the first time it was done on this 9 year old car... there was a fair amount of leaf debris in the bottom.

However, if it is just one leaf, you can also try to just chop it up with the fan... just watch out cause pieces will fly out the vent at you ;)

Swiat34

11-24-2010, 05:01 PM

It is quite possible that there is a leaf in the blower motor... because of the fan design it sounds almost exactly like a card in spokes. Unfortunately the vent area in front of the windshield isn't sealed all that great so leaves can land on your car and make their way into the motor.

The blower motor is in the passenger footwell. You take off the panel in the footwell, then you can take out the motor. It is held in by some screws, I don't recall the size. It is fairly simple. Then empty out whatever junk is in there. I did this early in the year which was probably the first time it was done on this 9 year old car... there was a fair amount of leaf debris in the bottom.

However, if it is just one leaf, you can also try to just chop it up with the fan... just watch out cause pieces will fly out the vent at you ;)

Thanks, Haz-Matt. See I tried running it fast, alternating the speeds and everything but I couldn't clear it. What's the fan motor gonna look like under there? No need to remove the dash??

HAZ-Matt

11-24-2010, 08:49 PM

It comes out from the bottom in the footwell. You don't have to take out the dash, just the panel in the footwell under the glove box if my memory is correct. After that is off then you should be able to find the blower motor. It is basically in a plastic box that is held on with something like 3 or 4 small bolts. It should have a power connector running to it. Just undo them and it drops out the bottom. The actual fan part is like a plastic paddle wheel, just with more spokes, but that is hidden inside the case. I don't have a picture but it should be easy enough to find once you take that panel off.

When I did this earlier in the year it was because I had a noise that wouldn't go away whatsoever as well. Before that I would just play around with the fan speed until it chopped up whatever leaf was in there, but it didn't work that time. There was a big one jammed in there with the other debris.